The present invention relates generally to cotton harvesters and more specifically to the suction door structure on a cotton picker row unit.
Typically a cotton picker includes one or more row units having upright picker drums and doffing units which doff the cotton from the spindles on the drums and direct it into suction door structure. The door structure is connected to conveying ducts which remove the cotton from the harvesting area. Most presently available doors are fabricated from metal which require complex spot welding and are relatively expensive to fabricate. The metal doors must also be painted for appearance and to cut down on corrosion. The doors are heavy and are easily dented and bent.
In narrow row units having side delivery of cotton into a narrow door structure, such as shown in U.S. application, Ser. No. 935,460 of Timothy A. Deutsch and Arthur L. Hubbard filed 26 Nov. 1986 and of common ownership with the present invention, there is very little room between the units to gain access to the door structure and the fastener assemblies associated therewith. In addition, the spindles on the drum project outwardly in the direction of the door structure so that the structure has to be moved transversely to clear the projecting spindles. Removing and attaching the heavy metal door structure is therefore a difficult and awkward task.